Vehicle warning system for hearing-impaired person and control method thereof

Abstract

A warning system for a hearing-impaired person of a vehicle includes: a sound sensing unit disposed at a vehicle to sense sound outside of the vehicle; a database storing characteristic information of a plurality of specific sounds and visual information corresponding to the characteristic information of the plurality of specific sounds; an output unit outputting visual information corresponding to the plurality of specific sounds; and a controller extracting characteristic information of the sound sensed by the sound sensing units. In particular, the controller determines a type of the sensed sound by comparing the extracted characteristic information of the sensed sound with the characteristic information of the plurality of specific sounds stored in the database, and outputs visual information corresponding to the determined type of the sensed sound through the output unit.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A warning system for a hearing-impaired person of a vehicle, the warning system comprising:
 a sound sensing unit disposed at a vehicle and configured to sense sound outside of the vehicle; 
 a database configured to store characteristic information of a plurality of specific sounds and visual information corresponding to the characteristic information of the specific sounds; 
 an output unit configured to output the visual information; and 
 a control unit configured to:
 determine whether the sensed sound needs to be visualized, 
 extract characteristic information of the sound sensed by the sound sensing unit when the sensed sound needs to be visualized, 
 determine a type of the sound by comparing the extracted characteristic information with the characteristic information of the plurality of specific sounds stored in the database, and 
 output visual information corresponding to the determined type of the sound through the output unit, 
 
 wherein when the control unit determines that the sensed sound needs to be visualized, the control unit is configured to:
 collect the sound a predetermined number of times through the sound sensing unit, 
 extract characteristic information of the sound collected the predetermined number of times, 
 select a specific number of items of the characteristic information from the extracted characteristic information, and 
 compare the selected specific number of items of the characteristic information with the characteristic information of the plurality of specific sounds stored in the database. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The warning system of  claim 1 , further comprising: a plurality of sensing units configured to sense the sound outside of the vehicle, wherein when the sound is sensed by a predetermined number of sound sensing units of the plurality of sensing units and a magnitude of sound pressure of the sound sensed by the predetermined number of sound sensing units is equal to or greater than a predetermined magnitude, the control unit is configured to determine that the sensed sound needs to be visualized. 
     
     
       3. The warning system of  claim 1 , wherein the extracted characteristic information of the sensed sound is frequency information of the sensed sound. 
     
     
       4. The warning system of  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to:
 determine that the sound sensed by the sound sensing unit is a specific sound of the plurality of specific sounds stored in the database when a difference between the selected specific number of items of the characteristic information and the characteristic information of the plurality of specific sounds stored in the database is equal to or less than a predetermined value, and 
 output visual information corresponding to the specific sound through the output unit. 
 
     
     
       5. The warning system of  claim 1 , further comprising: a light emission unit configured to emit light of colors corresponding to the plurality of specific sounds or specific driving situations. 
     
     
       6. The warning system of  claim 5 , wherein when the control unit determines that the sound sensed by the sound sensing unit is a specific sound of the plurality specific sounds stored in the database, the control unit is configured to control the light emission unit to emit light of a color corresponding to the specific sound of the plurality of specific sounds. 
     
     
       7. The warning system of  claim 5 , wherein the specific driving situations include at least one of a speeding situation or a rear-warning situation. 
     
     
       8. The warning system of  claim 7 , wherein the control unit is configured to control the light emission unit to emit the light of colors corresponding to the specific driving situations. 
     
     
       9. The warning system of  claim 1 , wherein when the control unit determines that the sound sensed by the sound sensing unit needs to be visualized, the control unit is configured to update the characteristic information of the plurality of specific sounds stored in the database based on the characteristic information of the sensed sound. 
     
     
       10. A method of controlling a warning system for a hearing-impaired person of a vehicle, the method comprising:
 determining, by a controller, whether a sound sensed by a sound sensing unit needs to be visualized; 
 collecting, by the controller, the sound a predetermined number of times through the sound sensing unit; 
 extracting, by the controller, characteristic information of the sound sensed by the sound sensing unit; 
 determining, by the controller, a type of the sensed sound by comparing the extracted characteristic information with the characteristic information of a plurality of specific sounds stored in the database; and 
 outputting, by an output unit, visual information corresponding to the determined type of the sensed sound, 
 wherein in determining the type of the sensed sound, the sensed sound is determined as a specific sound of the plurality of specific sounds stored in the database when a difference between a predetermined number of items of characteristic information selected from the extracted characteristic information and the characteristic information of the plurality of specific sounds stored in the database is equal to or less than a predetermined value. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the visualization of the sensed sound is determined when a magnitude of sound pressure of the sensed sound measured by a predetermined number of sounding sensing units is equal to or greater than a predetermined magnitude. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the extracted characteristic information of the sensed sound is frequency information.